Eurozone PMI Services was finalized at 12.0 in April, down from March’s 26.4. PMI Composite was finalized at 13.6, down from 29.7. Looking at some countries, Spain PMI composite was finalized at 9.2, Italy at 10.9, France at 11.1, Ireland at 17.3, Germany at 17.4. All are record lows.
Chris Williamson, Chief Business Economist at IHS Markit said: “With a large part of the region’s economy shut down while COVID-19 infections spiked higher, the economic data for April were inevitably going to be bad, but the scale of the decline is still shocking. The survey data are indicative of GDP falling at a quarterly rate of around 7.5%, far surpassing the worst decline seen in the global financial crisis. Jobs are also being lost at a rate never previously seen… While the rate of decline may ease in coming months, we do not expect to see any material signs of recovery until the second half of the year, and it is likely to be several years before the output lost due to the virus outbreak is fully regained.”
